RAF Kingsnorth USAAF Station AAF-418
Kingsnorth,Kent in England
Kingsnorth airfield, 12 May 1944, photo oriented to the west (top), taken about three weeks before D-Day. The crossroads in the middle of the picture is Bliby Corner, with Sevington Lane running left-right and Chequertree Lane going top-bottom.
Site information
Type	RAF advanced landing ground
Code	IN[1]
Owner	Air Ministry
Operator	Royal Air Force United States Army Air Forces 1944
Controlled by	RAF Fighter Command 1943-44 *No. 83 Group RAF RAF Second Tactical Air Force Ninth Air Force
Location
RAF Kingsnorth Shown within Kent Show map of Kent RAF Kingsnorth RAF Kingsnorth (the United Kingdom) Show map of the United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°6′18″N0°53′20″E / 51.10500°N 0.88889°E /51.10500; 0.88889
Site history
Built	1943 (1943)
Built by	RAF Airfield Construction Service
In use	July 1943 - January 1945 (1945)
Battles/wars	European theatre of World War II
Airfield information
Elevation	38 metres (125 ft)[1]AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 04/22  Sommerfeld Tracking 13/31  Sommerfeld Tracking

Royal Air Force Kingsnorth or more simplyRAF Kingsnorth is a formerRoyal Air Forceadvanced landing ground inKent, England. It was at Bliby Corner approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast ofAshford. It is not to be confused withRNAS Kingsnorth, later RAF Kingsnorth, which was anairship station in operation during and after theFirst World War.

Opened in 1943, Kingsnorth was one of a number of prototype temporaryAdvanced Landing Ground airfields built, with more to be built in France after D-Day, as the Allied forces moved east across France and Germany. Kingsnorth was used by British, Dominion and the United States Army Air Forces until it was closed in September 1944.

Today the airfield is agricultural land with few remains visible on the ground, although sections of the runways can clearly be made out on aerial and satellite photos.

The USAAF Ninth Air Force required several temporaryAdvanced Landing Ground (ALG) along the channel coast prior to theJune 1944 invasion of Normandy to provide tactical air support for the ground forces landing in France.

Kingsnorth was known asUSAAF Station AAF-418 for security reasons by the USAAF during the war, and by which it was referred to instead of location. Its USAAF Station Code was "KN".

The availability date of 1 April 1944 was achieved and between the 4th and 6th of that month approximately 1,500 men of the36th Fighter Group arrived at Kingsnorth airfield fromScribner Army Airfield,Nebraska flyingRepublic P-47 Thunderbolts. Operational fighter squadrons and fuselage codes were:

• 22d Fighter Squadron (3T)
• 23d Fighter Squadron (7U)
• 53d Fighter Squadron (6V)

The 36th Fighter Group was part of the303d Fighter Wing,XIX Tactical Air Command.

Movement to the Continent commenced during the first week of July when the 53rd Fighter Squadron transferred to itsAdvanced Landing Ground (ALG) at Brucheville, France (ALG A-16) as a forward base. The other two squadrons continued to operate from Kingsnorth until early August, the main body of the group preparing to move on the 2nd. Within a few days all personnel were gone and the airfield was deserted.

With the facility released from military control, the former airfield was returned rapidly to agricultural use and within a very short period there was little to indicate that RAF Kingsnorth had existed. Today the only evidence of the airfield's existence is a slight outline of the southeast end of runway 13, visible in aerial photographs.

Kingsnorth Airfield is on the east side of the A2070 just south ofAshford, about 1 mile south of Bad Munsterfeld road just after the loop heading southwards. The main airfield was in the field northwest of Bliby Corner crossroads, although the runways can be traced to south of Chequertree Lane.

• List of former Royal Air Force stations

Citations

Bibliography

 This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Falconer, J. (2012).RAF Airfields of World War 2. UK: Ian Allan Publishing.ISBN 978-1-85780-349-5.
• Freeman, Roger A. (1994)UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the BattleISBN 0-900913-80-0
• Freeman, Roger A. (1996)The Ninth Air Force in Colour: UK and the Continent-World War Two. After the BattleISBN 1-85409-272-3
• Jefford, C. G. (1988).RAF Squadrons. A comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912.Shrewsbury: Airlife.ISBN 1-85310-053-6.
• Maurer, Maurer (1983).Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History.ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
• Sturtivant, R.; Hamlin, J. (2007).Royal Air Force flying training and support units since 1912. UK: Air-Britain (Historians).ISBN 978-0851-3036-59.
• USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to present
• British Automobile Association (AA), (1978),Complete Atlas of Britain,ISBN 0-86145-005-1

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRAF Kingsnorth (WWII).

• Airfields of the IX Fighter Command in the United Kingdom
• Royal Air Force stations in Kent
• Military airbases established in 1943
• Military airbases closed in 1945

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use British English from May 2013
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Use dmy dates from March 2020
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
• Commons category link is on Wikidata